The first away defeat of the season had to come sooner or later. And if I am honest, I am probably not surprised that it came at West Brom.
A decent team, on a decent run, and not the easiest of places to go to. But where is in the Championship?
Let’s get the negative thoughts out of the way first. Yet again, we conceded early. It is a habit that we need to find a way to kick as soon as possible. For so long, we have been getting away with it. But it caught up with us on Saturday.
And once West Brom went 2-0 ahead early in the second half, did a Birmingham type of comeback ever look on? We must concede that we were second best throughout.
I’m not so sure that we have been in top gear since the 3-0 win at home to Hull City. Sure, we’ve had some great wins since then, but the ultimate performance of that night has not been repeated.
But that was an exceptional night, as has the season been to date regardless of Saturday’s result.
Now onto more positives. This was just our third defeat of the calendar year. We have been spoilt. And now a defeat feels like a real bump down to earth for some fans.
But don’t get too downhearted. We have opportunities this week to get back on track very quickly. We would have all taken this position after 17 games if offered back in July.
Congratulations to Kieran McKenna on reaching his 100th game in charge of the club. We’ve suffered just 15 defeats in that time.
Less than five years ago, the last time we were at this level of the game, we lost 15 of our last 27 games.
Between McKenna and the new owners, and set-up at the club, they have moved the club on a million miles.
But we’ve another journey ahead to get to where we all want the club to be. Enjoy the ride even with the bumps in the road like the one encountered on Saturday.
McKenna will know what needs to be done. December is going to be very hard, and fingers crossed that we get through in a strong position still.
A massive shout out to our brilliant fans again. Just under another 2,000 present for a Saturday teatime game live on Sky.
We’ve now had a combined total of over 22,000 at nine away games this season, at an average of just under 2,500. Another sign of how good times really are at present.
On a personal note, it was a weird one for me on Saturday. I was one of 1,600 Brits taking on the Benidorm 10k/Half Marathon. The run coincided for a while with our game.
As I ran the course, my mind was ultimately drifting to The Hawthorns. It’s a very bizarre experience not being able to keep in touch with the game.
Wondering if we were winning and that thought alone gave me an extra bit of pace in my step and then the wonder of if we were behind made the run feel like I was wading through treacle. I just had to get it out of my mind!
Of course, when we win, you want to be all over it and savour the moment. When I found out we had lost, I was glad to have not wasted any mental energy during the game. I feel like I’d got away with one really.
So, onto Millwall and Coventry now this week. It must have been very handy for our scouts to be at The Den on Saturday as Millwall took on the Sky Blues.
I can see a couple of wins coming our way and it already seems an eternity since we were last at Portman Road. Two visits in four days are very welcome.
Finally, a word for Kieron Dyer’s appearance on Life’s a Pitch TV last week. It was a very interesting watch and Kieron has really been through the mill with his liver transplant.
I was gutted to see him leave the club to end up at Chesterfield. He came across very well. So glad to see you in much better health, Kieron.
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